Yuko Kawai -- Little Tokyo（リトル・トウキョウ）

 

When I went over to Japan on that eye-opening Summer 1981 trip, just from watching TV and spending those three days via a homestay with the students at Tezukayama High School in Nara, it would seem that the popular hairdos among young women at the time could be split among the long & straight a la Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）and the bouncy Seiko-chan cut after debut-era Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）.

Now, mind you, I didn't discover singer-songwriter Yuko Kawai（河合夕子）until only a few years ago but she made her debut around the turn of the decade from the 70s into the 80s, and so I can imagine that the lass made quite an impression with her ready smile, the large round glasses and notably that ebulliently frizzy hairstyle which absolutely distinguished itself from the long & straight and the Seiko-chan cut.

Well, my first two sentences have walked like paragraphs so let me get into the nitty-gritty and write about Kawai's debut album "Little Tokyo" released in 1982. All of the tracks were either written and composed by Kawai herself or had additional co-writing help from lyricist Masao Urino（売野政男）. I've already provided a couple of tracks in separate articles: the summery "Tokyo-tique Girl"（東京チーク・ガール）and the Doobies-esque "Television Trip"（テレビジョン・トリップ） which starts the album.

I think "Little Tokyo" would be an interesting album to get if available since Kawai and Urino have crafted a pretty solid pop album. If I were to bring in singers via analogy for comparison, I would say that the album has the music for very early Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）with Kawai's vocals sounding a bit similar to a slightly toned-down Kohmi Hirose（広瀬香美）, about whom we will not hear from for another decade.

For the first several tracks, the sound is very much pop with hints of other genres thrown in like disco and 50s without actually diving full bore into them, as Kawai decides to travel globally just from what I've read of the track titles. Also, another characteristic of at least some of the tracks is that they don't melodically match what the title says. For example, Track 2 is "Jamaican Climax"（ジャマイカン Climax） at 3:10 doesn't have any hints of reggae or ska or calypso. Instead, it's a breezy West Coast pop song that also has some feelings of Kazuhiro Nishimatsu（西松一博）in his techno-jazz phase.

Track 3 at 7:03 is "1959 Omoide no Dance Hall"（1959想い出のダンス・ホール...Memories of 1959 at the Dance Hall） and although when I think of the year 1959, I'm always going to imagine sock hops and Bill Haley, there's something more jazzy in there from an earlier decade, and as Kawai sings in the lyrics, it looks like the setting isn't a Midwest American town but Singapore.

The 1950s do come back with "Hollywood Vacation"（ハリウッド・ヴァケーション）at 13:21 whose melody not only brings memories of that early Mariya but also "Happy Days" and dates at the local diner with malt shakes and a happy ending of sorts at Inspiration Point...or maybe the Hollywood sign.

The last couple of tracks on the original album is where Kawai decides to press into other genres although that custom of title and melody difference still holds firm. Track 9 at 27:36 has the title that might say in Japanese "Peking Zasetsugai"（北京挫折街）although the official English translation is "Peking Kneedrop City". It doesn't sound completely East Asian...more pan-Asian a la those exotic kayo of the late 1970s and it's arranged through that sheen of technopop and maybe some Boney M.

Track 10 at 30:57 is "Seikimatsu. Kamigami no Cha-cha-cha"（世紀末。神々のチャチャチャ...Century's End. The Cha-cha-cha of the Gods） that might be the musical representation of deities having one mighty kegger but not settling for ancient Japanese court music for the post-dinner dancing segment. Instead, maybe it's got more of that disco reggae beat and the synths in there. There's also a certain repeated passage that reminds me a lot of the aforementioned Iwasaki's "Cinderella Honeymoon"（シンデレラ・ハネムーン）.

A bonus track that has been added in later re-releases of "Little Tokyo" is "Route B-Flat Minor"（ルートB♭m）at 33:54 which is a pleasant kayo and a nice way to end the album, especially with that electric guitar solo. In a way, there is also a bit of Ami Ozaki（尾崎亜美）there, too.